Sims 4 insta crashing in past few days? Read here.

[pikuchi]

Symptoms: 

Sims 4 (64bit!) instantly crashes after or while loading. Usually no error given just CTD and a dmp file. This happens to 64 bit version, not 32bit version, its a hint already there.

As a pc technician I did look into dmp files and few things and verified ideas with 32/64bit vs x machines, and found what seem to cause it for most people here (100% success here)

Now the last few days Microsoft sent out some Windows 10 updates, and specificly update KB4515384 which is the sinner, causing many Sims 4 to crash. 

While this may NOT be an perfect solution for everyone, its amazing how many Sim 4 copies in this area that all the sudden started working after that KB4515384 is removed.

1) Open start menu type CONTROL to open control panel
2) Open Programs & Features 
3) In "Program & features" choose "view installed updates"(top left corner)
4) Click on "Security update for Microsoft Windows (KB4515384)" and then click "Uninstall", wait for process to finish and it most likely require a restart of the computer.

Hopefully, Sims 4 64bit, should now work again.

Good luck, 

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@deoroller67  If you have MSI Afterburner or RivaTuner Statistics Server running, please close it and try to play again.  A couple of people have reported that RTSS was the problem, and also that it apparently kept running even during a clean boot.

[kreatora]

@pikuchi

Thank you for posting this solution. Searching for the causes of these failures, many computers have obtained current drivers and many system errors have been removed, which is a positive side effect but this solution was not found.

[Semscher]

Thanks that fixed it!

[EA_Blueberry]

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@pikuchi wrote:

4) Click on "Security update for Microsoft Windows (KB4515384)" and then click "Uninstall", wait for process to finish and it most likely require a restart of the computer.

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@pikuchi 

Thank you for helping the community out. Want to remind any of those that see this post though to be aware of any harmful outcomes that could arise when uninstalling security updates for your PC. We advise reaching out to Microsoft Support for any questions or concerns surrounding that security update and uninstall it at your own risk.

[deoroller67]

unfortunately this also did not help, after uninstalling the patch the game crashes after the loading screen instantly, which means I am still not able to play the game also not in windowed mode

[puzzlezaddict]

@deoroller67  I see you're already getting help on the German boards, and normally I'd suggest you follow up there, since it's usually better to keep all troubleshooting in one thread.  But f you'd like to try a few things, I wrote a reply to someone else with the same or a similar issue just now:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-4-crashing-during-game-play/m-p/8209772#M151652

Even if nothing helps, it's still useful information to have.

[deoroller67]

I do not get help there, all they tell me, is that it is not a Problem of EA, it is Microsoft's fault and mark the Thread as solved. But this does not help me at all. Do I as a Customer of EA who has spend quite a bit of $ in this game now have to contact MS, or what shall I do?

[puzzlezaddict]

@deoroller67  I understand you're frustrated, and I wish I knew how to solve the problem.  When Microsoft breaks something with a Windows update, there isn't anything EA can do to fix it, because EA can't change the Windows code  itself.  (That's a good thing, of course.)  And often enough, we don't even find out what the real problem is—Microsoft doesn't bother to tell anyone, and we never learn what it was on our own—we just get to see when it's fixed.

In this case though, you said that uninstalling the update didn't help.  So there must be something else about your system that's preventing you from playing.  If you would like to keep experimenting, I already linked some troubleshooting steps you can try.  But right now, that's all I can suggest.  I don't have any issues running Sims 4 myself, and neither do any of the other helpers I've asked.  So we're relying on the players who are affected to report back letting us know whether anything helped.

[deoroller67]

Ok thanks, although it was hard, because I liked this game, but since I cannot use it anymore with or without this MS patch I uninstalled it and I try to avoid EA games in the future

One last Question. Does MS at all know about this issue? 

[puzzlezaddict]

@deoroller67  I have no idea whether Microsoft knows; I don't have any contact with them.  EA is aware of the issue, and I would think that they've contacted Microsoft, but this isn't something they'd share with the volunteers here.

If you're done troubleshooting, that's understandable.  But if you change your mind and want to try to get your game running again, you know where to find me.